There were about twenty-two different ways I wanted to start writing today. I did the thing where you write a sentence and delete it, stare at the screen and think through multiple sentences and then I decided to write the words I would say if you and I were sitting down catching up.
Back to School
We’re back to school here which is somewhat akin to New Years in our household. Things shift, it is a new beginning, new grade level for my children, I get back to my personal routines because everyone is out of the house, I’ll be back to client work soon, and back to writing more.
This week I am easing back in. This morning I cleaned my office, got rid of the summer-ness of my office—my sons’s toys in here, excess paper from my children crafting in my office while I’m in here, and bags upon bags from various conferences and events from the past few months that needed to be given away or put away.
There was a random chair sitting in my office that didn’t belong here and I picked it up thinking where should I put it in here and then, almost at the exact same moment, I thought, take it out, it doesn’t belong here. There’s a lesson there. Stuff that’s present that you keep making room for or putting in a different spot when in reality it simply needs to be taken out—you don’t need it, it’s not meant for this space or for your present. Stop moving it around, get rid of it.
My Upcoming Retreat
I’m hosting a 2-Day retreat next month and I will sit down to finalize the details of that next week, I’m very excited about it! I’ve only shared it with 2024 Best Today® Conference attendee’s and the Best Today® Community. If tickets are still available when you read this, I’d love to see you in the room.
It’s an intimate retreat where we will work together to help you get clear on what matters to you in this season and then make plans accordingly. This is a gift I have been graced with, to sit in community with women and help you to work through the things that matter so I am really looking forward to this intimate event. You’re invited, details are here.
Photo Project
My photo project that I feel like I’ve talked about all year long is making it’s way into the tangible phase where I print the hundreds of photos and then begin to scrapbook them. I shared my new photo system here and on August 1st it took me less than 5 minutes to save all of July 2025 photos in its own folder, upload them to dropbox, and select which photos I wanted to print.
The thing about cleaning up a multi-year mess (all the pictures over four phones) is it’s tedious to backtrack and catch up. But, it’s worth it when you set up a system so that going forward you won’t find yourself in that place again. Like clockwork, on the first day of every month you can guarantee I have a system set up to print our memories and not let them simply live on a phone or camera.
We Beached
I’m not much of a beach person but our beach trip this year was one for the books. We stayed directly on the beach and that made a world of difference. Each morning we could stake our claim on the beach, enjoy a slow breakfast, go out to play in the water, come home, shower and go out for lunch and come back after all the rentals were gone and enjoy the beach almost to ourselves.
We traveled to Garden City beach in Murrell’s Inlet, a less crowded area from Myrtle Beach. It’s about four hours from us so it was a days drive and we had a really great time closing out the summer and celebrating my son’s birthday.
I got to see a lot of people I love in July, it’s such a good month for me! I purposely take off of work (I had one client that I did some work for but that didn’t feel like work at all, doing coaching calls for someone who needed me) and tend to myself, my family, and friends. I went live in the Best Today® Community but other than that I let myself be still (not literally because home with two children, three trips, and my niece visited for a week and a half) in the sense that I reminded myself that what makes my work so effective is not that I am always on, always available, but that I practice what I teach.
Because of the time away I am better now that I am back. I am better for the corporate clients I serve, for the women I am in community with, and for subscribers who read and listen to my words.
I would love to hear how July was for you. Is August a new beginning for you, a reset, a continuation, something else? And will I see you at the Rooted Retreat next month here in Greenville? Let’s chat.
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